1. Jennings Spikes Beheading Culprit al-Zarqawi's Ties to al-Qaeda Is Peter Jennings spiking any al-Qaeda/bin Laden tie to the beheading of Nick Berg? On Wednesday night, ABC's World News Tonight ran a story about the terrorist for whom the videotape of the murder claims responsibility, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but ABC neglected to make any mention of his role in al-Qaeda. In focusing on al-Zarqawi, ABC was just catching up with CBS and NBC. But on Tuesday night those two networks had explicitly linked him to al-Qaeda and/or bin Laden. On Wednesday, however, Jennings described al-Zarqawi simply as "one of the... continue reading
1. ABC & CNN Discount Tie to al-Qaeda of Beheading Perpetrators ABC on Tuesday night, as well as CNN, discounted any connection to al-Qaeda by those who beheaded American Nick Berg in Iraq. "They could be directly linked to Osama bin Laden," asserted NBC anchor Tom Brokaw while CBS's David Hawkins explained how "the video was posted on an Islamic Web site and titled 'Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American.' al-Zarqawi, thought to be leading al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq, is one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants." But at the top of World News Tonight, Peter Jennings cited "several... continue reading
1. NBC Relays View of Rumsfeld as "Neo-Nazi," and Raises Mein Kampf The broadcast and cable network newscasts led once again Monday night with multiple stories on the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal and calls for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to resign as all touted how the International Committee of the Red Cross reports from last year prove the abuse was widespread, not corrected and long-known by top officials. NBC went so far as to air a claim that Rumsfeld reminds one Egyptian journalist of a "neo-Nazi character" and how an Arab businessman thinks U.S. treatment of prisoners "is not Jeffersonian... continue reading
1. Rumsfeld Must Go, Shields Takes on "Armchair Commando" Limbaugh On the weekend gab shows, star media figures Eleanor Clift, Nina Totenberg and Al Hunt all made clear that they think that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld should go. Both Hunt and Mark Shields yearned for a McCain presidency. "If John McCain were President, no one questions he would have accepted personal responsibility, and high-level heads would roll," Hunt insisted. Shields, apparently unable to recognize humor, derisively tagged Rush Limbaugh an "armchair commando" and quoted how Limbaugh "dismissively compares the sadism to a college fraternity hazing at Yale: 'This is no different... continue reading
1. Rather: "Bush Finally Apologizes, But Will He Fire Rumsfeld?" Network reporters complained again Thursday morning about how President Bush hadn't apologized during his Wednesday sessions with Arab TV networks (Claire Shipman on GMA: "Eyebrows are being raised at the fact he never actually apologized") and after Bush did say he's "sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners," that development led the evening newscasts. But not all were satisfied. Dan Rather teased the May 6 CBS Evening News: "President Bush finally apologizes, but will he fire Defense Secretary Rumsfeld?" Only NBC's Chip Reid noted "a backlash from many... continue reading
1. Networks Stress How Bush Didn't Apologize for Prisoner Treatment All the networks on Wednesday night stressed how, in his interviews with two Arab-language TV networks, President Bush did not apologize for the treatment of some Iraqi prisoners. "But while the President denounced the abuse of Iraqi prisoners," ABC's Terry Moran noted, "he pointedly did not apologize for it." CBS's Bill Plante emphasized how "President Bush deplored the abuses, but stopped short of an outright apology." On CNN's NewsNight, John King pointed out how "the President did not use the words 'I'm sorry' or apologize in any way." Three times... continue reading
1. CBS Employs McCarthyistic Tactics to Smear Anti-Kerry Veterans CBS on Tuesday night tried to discredit some Vietnam veterans critical of John Kerry by impugning them as partisan activists tied to the Bush campaign, though the only link seems to be a public relations firm involved in the 2000 campaign, and tarring all of them with the supposed dirty work for Richard Nixon of one. Very McCarthyistic. FNC's Carl Cameron, however, managed to avoid innuendo as he undermined the credibility of specific vets by showing how in the past they had praised Kerry. CBS's Byron Pitts went back to 1971... continue reading
1. Lesley Stahl: Press Corps "Assumes" Cheney Tells Bush What to Do CBS's Lesley Stahl let slip in a Friday interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews how "we all suppose and assume" that Vice President Cheney "is sitting in the room and kind of hand-signaling to the President about what he's supposed to do." But, she conceded, "we don't know that." The press corps just assumes it. 2. AP: "Dole Rises to Kerry's Defense Over Vietnam"; But He Didn't AP's distorted headline. Asked on Fox News Sunday if "people should take into account" how John Kerry threw away ribbons/medals... continue reading
1. Johnson-McNamara Phone Call Reminds NBC's Brian Williams of Iraq Vietnam on his mind. On Friday's NBC Nightly News, after declaring that the "Mission Accomplished" sign behind President Bush a year ago on the aircraft carrier "is one image that won't go away," as if he and the media have nothing to do with that, anchor Brian Williams played audio from a newly-released 1966 phone conversation between Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President Lyndon Johnson and suggested that it "may remind some of the current situation in Iraq, even though what you're about to hear has to do, of... continue reading
1. Koppel Denies He's Against War, But Lectures on Sharing Its Cost Koppel Denies He's Against War, But Lectures on Sharing Its Cost At the conclusion of Friday's controversial 35-minute Nightline devoted to Ted Koppel announcing, over matching pictures, the names of servicemen killed in Iraq over the past 13 months, he contended that "the reading tonight of those 721 names was neither intended to provoke opposition to the war, nor was it meant as an endorsement." Koppel acknowledged, however, that "some of you doubt that" and "are convinced that I am opposed to the war." He insisted: "I'm not."... continue reading